The Northeast and far eastern portions of Texas received some relief with recent rains. The NOAA Climate Prediction Center estimates these regions, along with much of the Midwest, will see improvements in the coming months.

“East Texas will probably fare okay, but South and West Texas will probably see a lot of stress on surface water,” Murphy says. “Barring landfall of a hurricane or tropical storm, it’s probably going to get worse before it gets better.”

The Texas Water Development Boardbacked up that assessment in their weekly drought update to state lawmakers. The update shows the Southern and Lower Valley regions remaining severely and excessively dry. The Lower Valley region is also classified as having an “exceptional fire risk.”

If drought was working against farmers this week, it wasn’t alone. A late season freeze on Monday night may have damaged crops already weak from prolonged dryness.

“Two fields that I had inspected were 75 to 80 percent damaged with collapsed stems and heads dying,” Auckerman said in an AgriLife release. “These fields were thin plant stands and not irrigated well when this freeze moved in. Now with this last freeze, all bets are off, so to speak, and again we will have to wait to assess this past round of damage.”